1: Chapter 1 begins with a murder case.

(Brain storage for the handsome and beautiful.)

(The timeline in this book has been altered by the author and might be a bit confusing.)

Please bear with me.

Cold rain pelted his face, and a metallic, bloody scent drifted into his nostrils.

Lin Long snapped his eyes open, a sharp headache making him groan. His vision was met with damp concrete ground, dark green moss growing at the base of the walls, and a narrow sky above, where lead-gray clouds were pouring down torrential rain.

"Where... is this?"

He struggled to sit up, his body aching as if his bones had been shattered.

The last frame of his memory was riding his electric scooter home on a rainy night after overtime, swerving into a green belt to avoid a truck running a red light, followed by endless darkness.

But this clearly wasn't the familiar city street corner he knew.

On both sides of the narrow alley were Japanese-style buildings with wooden doors tightly shut. Faded Japanese posters were plastered on the walls, and the muffled sound of a tram's horn echoed from afar.

Rainwater gathered into a small stream at the mouth of the alley, washing away cigarette butts and scrap paper on the ground. The air was thick with a mixture of rain, soil, and... a faint, lingering sense of malice.

"Japan?"

Lin Long furrowed his brows, trying to sort out his chaotic thoughts. He didn't know Japanese and had never been abroad; how could he suddenly appear in a place like this?

Just then, a flurry of urgent footsteps and shouting came from the mouth of the alley, interrupting his thoughts.

"Hand over the money! Hurry up!"

A rough male voice rang out, laced with a clear sense of threat.

Lin Long instinctively shrank into the shadows and peeked out.

Under the streetlight at the alley's entrance, a man in a black hoodie was pressing a folding knife against the neck of a middle-aged man dressed like an office worker.

The middle-aged man's face was deathly pale with fear. His hands trembled as he handed over his wallet. The rain soaked his shirt, clinging to his body and outlining his hunched figure.

"Cut the crap! The phone too!"

The robber growled impatiently, his eyes flickering with greed and violence.

Lin Long's heart skipped a beat.

Transmigrating to a strange place and witnessing a robbery right after waking up? His luck was absolutely abysmal. He held his breath, wanting only to slip away before either party noticed him.

However, the moment he prepared to stand up, an emotionless mechanical voice suddenly rang in his mind, as cold as if it came from the abyss:

[Host's soul detected as stable. Binding conditions met...]

["Shadow Sovereign" authority activating... 10%... 50%... 100%. Activation successful.]

[Strong "Malice" energy detected nearby. Absorbable.]

Lin Long: "???"

What is this? A hallucination?

Before he could react, a strange sensation spread from his heart to his entire body. His vision seemed to be covered by a faint gray shadow, making the originally blurry rainy night scene exceptionally clear—he could even see the robber's fingers turning white from gripping the knife, hear the "clatter" of the middle-aged man's teeth chattering, and even "see" wisps of pitch-black mist rising from the robber, emitting an uncomfortable chill.

[malice black qi: 37 points. Absorbable. Absorb?]

The mechanical voice rang out again. At the same time, Lin Long felt a weak suction coming from his right palm, as if something was restless and wanted to break free from its shackles.

"Absorb?"

Lin Long's mind went blank. Almost instinctively, he thought, "Absorb!"

In the next second, he clearly saw a wisp of shadow thinner than a strand of hair emerge from his palm. Like a living thing, it shot out, instantly crossing several meters and coiling around the robber.

This all happened in a flash; neither the robber nor the middle-aged man noticed anything.

But a change had indeed occurred.

The violence on the robber's face faded slightly, and his gaze became somewhat dazed. The knife pressed against the middle-aged man's neck also instinctively loosened. The black mist emanating from him thinned at a visible rate, while a warm current flowed into Lin Long's palm, and the numbers in his mind jumped accordingly:

[malice black qi: 42 points... 48 points... 53 points...]

"This... is this real?"

Lin Long's heart pounded wildly. Shock, excitement, and a trace of inexplicable fear intertwined in his chest. Transmigration, a strange world, a suddenly appearing "authority," and shadows that could absorb "malice"... all of this exceeded his understanding, yet it was so real he couldn't deny it.

Just then, a sharp siren sounded in the distance, getting closer. Someone had clearly called the police.

The robber snapped back to his senses, a flash of panic crossing his face. He snatched the middle-aged man's wallet and phone, turning to run toward the end of the alley—the very direction where Lin Long was hiding.

Lin Long's pupils constricted. He concentrated his will almost instinctively.

As if receiving a command, the wisp of shadow instantly thickened several times, like a black rope, and suddenly coiled around the robber's ankle.

"Ugh!"

The robber stumbled and fell heavily into the mud. The knife flew out of his hand, sliding a long distance across the ground.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man didn't care about his fear. He scrambled toward the mouth of the alley, shouting in Japanese, presumably for help.

The robber struggled to get up, but his ankle felt like it was clamped by invisible pincers, and he couldn't move at all. He looked down in terror, only to see the wet ground and nothing else.

Lin Long hid in the shadows, watching the scene closely. The warmth in his palm became more and more apparent, and the numbers in his mind were still slowly increasing: [malice black qi: 61 points...]

The sirens grew louder. Alternating red and blue lights pierced through the rain, illuminating the narrow alley. Two uniformed police officers rushed into the alley entrance. Seeing the fallen robber, they immediately stepped forward to pin him down and handcuff him.

"What happened?"

One of the officers asked, his gaze scanning the scene before finally landing on the shadows at the end of the alley.

Lin Long's heart leaped into his throat. He instinctively shrank back.

At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of two figures passing by the other side of the alley entrance.

One was a young boy in a blue suit and a red bowtie. He was looking up, scanning the alley with a sharp gaze that surpassed his age, the eyes behind his glasses flickering with an inquisitive light.

The other was a blonde woman in a black trench coat. She wore sunglasses, a faint smile playing on her lips. Her gaze seemed to casually sweep across the place where Lin Long was hiding, carrying an indescribable sense of pressure.

Conan? Vermouth?

These two names flashed through Lin Long's mind like lightning. Combined with the Japanese street scenery and the few Japanese words he had just heard, an absurd yet incredibly clear answer surfaced in his heart—

He had transmigrated into the world of Detective Conan, arriving in this city where murders were frequent and danger lurked everywhere—Tokyo, Beika Town.

And the "Shadow Sovereign" authority he possessed, the power to absorb malice and control shadows, seemed tailor-made for this world teeming with crime.

The police led away the still-struggling robber, and the middle-aged man followed to give his statement. Silence soon returned to the alley, leaving only the pitter-patter of the rain.

Lin Long slowly stepped out of the shadows and looked down at his right hand. The wisp of shadow had disappeared, but he could clearly feel it lurking within his body, like a sleeping beast waiting to be awakened.

The mechanical voice rang in his mind again:

[Current malice black qi: 73 points.]

[Unlocking "Shadow Trooper Corps: Shadow Guards" requires 100 points of malice black qi. Continue accumulating?]

Lin Long took a deep breath. The cold rain made him feel more alert.

Transmigrating to the world of Conan, danger was inevitable. Whether it was the omnipresent murder cases or the Black Organization lurking in the dark, any of them could take his life at any time.

But fortunately, he wasn't empty-handed.

This "Shadow Sovereign" authority, this power to absorb malice and strengthen himself, was his capital for survival.

"Accumulate? Of course, I'll accumulate."

Lin Long clenched his fists, a cold light flashing in his eyes. "100 points, huh? It seems I'll have to find more 'nourishment' in this 'city of sin.'"

He looked up at the brightly lit street outside the alley. People were coming and going; it seemed peaceful, but it hid countless unknown desires, hatreds, and malice.

For others, Beika Town was a dangerous place shrouded by the God of Death.

But for Lin Long, who held the shadow authority, this was his hunting ground, the starting point of his rise.

Rain washed over his cheeks, but it couldn't wash away the determination in his eyes.

The shadow has descended.

And the hunting game belonging to Lin Long has only just begun.